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Light section of exhibition
© AMNH; Photo Studio |
What is light? How does it travel, and how fast can it go? Even as a teenager, Einstein was fascinated by the nature of light. When he was just 16 years old, Einstein tried to imagine what it would be like to ride on a beam of light. Could he travel as fast as light? Could he travel faster?
In 1905, nearly a decade after this first "thought experiment," Einstein answered these questions with his Special Theory of Relativity. The theory, which revolutionized our understanding of time and space, is based on Einstein's astonishing recognition that light always travels at a constant speed, regardless of how fast you're moving when you measure it. Einstein's explorations into the fundamental properties of light also laid the groundwork for his most impressive achievement, the General Theory of Relativity.
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